As a family member, I would like to encourage all to come join this memorial vigil for Donna. We want to keep Donna's memory alive and let our communities know that we are still seeking Justice for Donna. We haven't forgotten.

Also, just so you all know, the reward money is not accessible by the family at all. I know that there have been questions previously posted by individuals who questioned that the money was used to build the library. But again, the family has no control over this money at all.

do a search here on her, there are LOTS of recent articles. She was murdered in 1984 and lots of people believe the officials are covering up something, LOTS of fishy details that don't make any sense.

You are making some strong accusations. Since you know so much why not share with the county the new toys (you so call) that you know about. Enforcing the laws and keeping the community safe is not childs play so since you address these items as "toys", why not share with us (the community) what you do for a living?

Dragging this in the ground...hmmm...for 26 yrs our family has wanted justice...and finally her case is getting the attention it should have received way back then. There is enough circumstantial evidence to CONVICT yet the DA won't take it before the Grand Jury. Seems like the citizens of Barnesville and Lamar County would be very interested in why--even if you have no compassion for a beautiful, sweet young woman who was brutally murdered!

"racist manager at huddle house" oh no another obama voter walking arpund with a cip on their shoulder.let me guess they didn't bow down to you when you walked in the huddle house.mybe the manager doesn't think every black person is owed his undivided attention.grow up your the racist!!!

Waller? It was buice who bought all the extravagant toys and new DNR green guns and uniforms and such for the deputies, a harley, bucket truck, etc. etc., then couldn't account for a sizeable amount of "missing" money. How is it wallers fault? Is he now the person to blame for all things in the past?

How is an incident from over 25 years ago now the single most important thing in this county? So nothing that has happened since or is currently going on is noteworthy or sensational enough? You really should get out more often.

Anyway, you continue to present your opinions here as facts, tolley, when they are still simply your opinion. And I agree with the above poster.

What about the disappearance of Helen Morgan. She has been missing for 26 years. Maybe there needs to be a 17 part series written on this case. Was her life not also important? Should not someone be crying out for justice for those responsible for her disappearance? Or is it just all about Donna.

Wow, you truly want people to be convicted on circumstantial evidence.

So the next time someone says they saw you in crack town, but it wasn't really you, just a car that looked like yours, don't try top defend yourself, because you would then be going against circumstantial evidence.

Regardless, any decent attorney would blow a pile of circumstantial evidence up, especially in a murder trial. Now, if there is some real proof, then I'll be all for it, but without proof, theres nothing you can or should do. Innocent people should not be put through prosecution because of this type of assumption, or "circumstantial" evidence.
Wouldn't that be the same as profiling?

yes a racist manager is much more important than murder....omg ... are you seriously human! If you don't like the way you are treated report to upper management...Donna can not defend herself and couldn't against her brutal murderer -- we are the only ones now who can attempt to find justice. Donna is dead, you have the ability to walk out of a restaurant that treats you unfairly--I wish Donna had that ability...HOW CAN YOU WITH ANY LOGIC OR CONSCIOUS MAKE SUCH A COMPARISON OF IMPORTANCE??????

Just a thought......How do we know if the Johnson and Morgan murders are not related? Maybe Donna knew who killed Ms Morgan, and this was the reason she was killed. I'm new in the area and have been reading the comments re: both cases.

Amen. Not trying to play down Donna, because at least they have a clue in that case, but Ann's case was another (around the same time) that was swept under the rug. I was married into that family and I will say this much, there are lots of secrets concerning Ann. Ann never would've left her daughter for one, and two, she had absolutely no reason to leave in the first place. Why haven't they checked all those wells out there on morgan dairy rd? Because there was plenty of reason to secure a search warrant back when this happened

Well, the FBI can look into that while they are here checking out Donna's case. If they have nothing to hide, they should all welcome that.

Maybe the FBI can set up a satellite office here while they clean house.

They are on a roll, I hear....with a Federal Judge being busted in GA for loving up on a hooker and drugging it up with her AND lets not forget them taking down 89 cops in Puerto Rico for protecting drug sales.

I have always heard about Donnas case since I was little. I have never heard about the Ann Morgan issue until here in the last few weeks. I would like to know more info. Was she married to a Morgan or was she born a Morgan. She just all of a sudden came up missing? More info would be great.

I think that both cases are unrelated. There was someone that commented on Helen Ann Morgan's case a few months ago -- mentioning something about her body being disappearing in a lime pit.

I always thought that her disappearance was sketchy to say the least, being that she had a very young daughter. She was also going through a divorce too. I believe that her vehicle was later found at the airport. In cases like this it's always the husband/partner that is suspected... How is Helen's

Why does the money go to the Milner library (which obviously will never be built and a waste of money to begin with). Why doesnt the money go toward the reward money that everyone saying has dwindled down. Instead of putting it towards the waste of a building, put it towards something that will actually help the case. It going to the Milner library is the dumbest thing I have read throughout this whole ordeal on this blog, and thats saying a lot.

First off, it is not Wallers responsibility to maintain accountability for a fund over the past 26 years.

Secondary, maybe people who "Pledged" some money have since withdrawn or aren't around anymore.

Sure are a lot of assumptive, emotionally charged people making a lot of insinuations around here. Good thing is, when the unfortunate instance happens that people like y'all get in a position of power, you don't last long before being removed from that power.

The threshold for murder conviction is beyond a reasonable doubt. Very few cases have the benefit of the murderer standing over the body of the victim holding a smoking gun. Most are so much more complex than that. Almost always, you have to fill in gaps, and some gaps are wider than others, but still beyond a reasonable doubt.

Many, many cases have been built and successfully prosecuted on circumstantial evidence. This one could be, too. The key is to layer circumstance on top of circumstance on top of circumstance, so that the jury understands the odds of that particular chain of circumstances occurring, in that particular order, given a particular set of circumstances, are astronomical, outside the scenario presented.

I've heard it described in many ways. If you flip a coin, the chances of getting "heads" is 1/2, but to get "heads" five times in a row, the likelihood is 1/32 and that's where you only have two possible outcomes.

Another way to describe it- anybody can easily tear in half a page from a phone book, but put twenty pages together and very few people can tear that in half. Like plywood, the more layers, the stronger the integrity of the structure.

A murder conviction based on circumstantial evidence is not nearly unprecedented. It takes time, effort and passionate dedication to the cause. Donna is worth that.

Like NST, I haven't been privy to the file, but what's been provided in the press is more than compelling. I'd like to see something that takes it in a different direction- if it exists!

I agree with the first part of your post. Other than resolving unsolved cases, Waller isn't accountable for anything that happened before his election.

However as a public servant, he should understand what happened and be ready to answer, so long as it doesn't compromise an open case, jeopardize someone's safety or infringe on an HR matter. If so, he should refuse to answer and state why he can't. A simple, "No comment" is not acceptable.

Your comment about who gets into "a position of power" and how and why they hold it is interesting...

The trial of Scott Peterson for the murders of his wife Laci and their unborn child Conner is a classic example of a prosecution based on circumstantial evidence, rather than direct evidence.

Circumstantial evidence is evidence which may allow a judge or jury to deduce a certain fact from other facts which can be proven. In some cases, there can be some evidence that can not be proven directly, such as with an eye-witness.

In these cases, the prosecution will attempt to provide evidence of the circumstances from which the jury can logically deduct, or reasonably infer, the fact that cannot be proven directly. The prosecutor believes the fact can be proven by the evidence of the circumstances or "circumstantial" evidence.

In other words, in these cases it is up to the prosecutors to show through a set of circumstances that their theory of what took place is the only logical deduction -- that the circumstances can be explained by no other theory.

Go to GBI.GOV and give your tips to the GBI. Forget any assistance from our current local elected politicians. They are busy sweeping facts under the rug. They are searching Craig's List for a bigger rug.

The trial of Scott Peterson for the murders of his wife Laci and their unborn child Conner is a classic example of a prosecution based almost solely on circumstantial evidence, rather than direct evidence.

Circumstantial evidence is evidence which may allow a judge or jury to deduce a certain fact from other facts which can be proven. In some cases, there can be some evidence that can not be proven directly, such as with an eye-witness.

In these cases, the prosecution will attempt to provide evidence of the circumstances from which the jury can logically deduct, or reasonably infer, the fact that cannot be proven directly. The prosecutor believes the fact can be proven by the evidence of the circumstances or "circumstantial" evidence.

In other words, in these cases it is up to the prosecutors to show through a set of circumstances that their theory of what took place is the only logical deduction -- that the circumstances can be explained by no other theory.

Conversely, in circumstantial evidence cases, it is the job of the defense to show that the same circumstances could be explained by an alternative theory. In order to avoid a conviction, all a defense attorney has to do is put enough doubt into one juror's mind that the prosecution's explanation of the circumstances is flawed.

We don't know. We do know that a professional cold case crime solving society left a person's name who they consider the murderer. Presumably, the person they suspected who allegedly failed a lie detector test has no alibi since bug evidence was reviewed and proves that if his alibi is true, Donna made his sandwich several hours after she died. The fly larvae evidence reviewed by:(1) Dr.M. Lee Goff, a widely-published expert in forensic entomology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. (2) Dr. Bill Bass, a Smithsonian cataloger and forensic consultant for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and founder of The Body Farm.(3) Dr. Jason Byrd, an expert forensic entomologist, of Virginia Commonwealth University. (4)John Wallace, forensic entomologist of Millersville University. These four experts worked without knowledge of the findings of the prior experts, THEY concluded that Donna was murdered between 5am and 7am on July 16. NOT between 2pm and 4pm as was previously assumed.
All this knowledge is insignificant to District Attorney Richard Milam, for he is "the fairest of them all."

I am with Anonymous on this one. How much was the reward at its maximum limit? Has anyone been paid for tips? What is the balance of the reward fund? Who had financial accountability of the reward fund? These questions really do need answers.

HOLY CRAP! Bill Bass is the man when it comes to entomology. Let me quote Wikipedia just to piss some people off for quoting it!!!

The original "Body Farm" is the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility located a few miles from downtown off of Alcoa Highway in Knoxville, Tennessee, behind the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Anthropologist Dr. William M. Bass became head of the university's anthropology department in 1971, and as official state forensic anthropologist for Tennessee he was frequently consulted in police cases involving decomposed human remains. Since no facilities existed that specifically studied decomposition, in 1981 he opened the department's first body farm.[1]
It consists of a 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) wooded plot, surrounded by a razor wire fence. At any one time there will be a number of bodies placed in different settings throughout the facility and left to decompose. The bodies are exposed in a number of ways in order to provide insights into decomposition under varying conditions. Detailed observations and records of the decomposition process are kept, including the sequence and speed of decomposition and the effects of insect activity.
Bodies are obtained from various sources. Some have lain unclaimed at the medical examiner's office, while over 300 people have voluntarily donated their bodies to the Body Farm. Approximately 120 bodies are donated to the facility every year.[2] Perhaps the most famous person to donate his body for study was the anthropologist Grover Krantz, as described by his colleague David Hunt at the Smithsonian.[3]
The University of Tennessee Body Farm is also used in the training of law enforcement officers in scene-of-crime skills and techniques.[4]

I would expect that the reward fund would be down from its high because of people not making good on pledges, but never that low. I would like to see the money used to hire someone would look into why this crime was never bought before a jury. Just like everything else about this case where the money is and how much remains is a mystery. What would Donna have wanted? Find her killers or a library? I think I know the answer to that question.

I went to the GBI link regarding Ann Morgan. I think the time-line is wrong. Seems like the first call from NCR (or someone pretending to be at NCR) was around 4-5pm and Ann left to go to Peachtree City around shortly after 7pm (after a second call). She told her mother she would be back around 10pm and asked her to give her daughter a bath and put her to bed. Ann stopped at a grocery store in Griffin around 8pm and paid for some purchases with a check. Easy enought to check out (phone records and bank statements) if someone(Monehan) had been interested. I think an inquiry was made of some NCR employees and no one admitted to calling Ann. There was rumors that an NCR employee that Ann knew was into drugs. "snow" I believe was the term used. I don't believe Ann was into drugs, but I think someone she knew here may have known the NCR employee that was a user. There were also rumors that Ann loaned her car to someone because theirs was "in the shop", and this someone drove it to Flordia and back overnite to bring drugs. Rumor says this someone couldn't use their own vehicle because it was "being watched". Rumor has it, Ann was really upset that her car had been used in such a way and it put a big strain on their relationship. Rumors, just rumors.

Oh yeah, I forgot about him. I guess circumstantial evidence carries more weight than people realize. Evidently enough to scare Richard Milam into secrecy? Why? Does he still get paid when he loses cases? If not, maybe he is indigent. Oh, I forgot he doesn't lose, because he does not try any cases. It is about time for him to make another trip to Sweetie's Plea Market, he must be in short supply by now. Surely he is not tapping into that reward money of Donna's.

I called Sheriff Waller at 9:48 this morning. The lady who answered the phone said that the Sheriff will return my call. I will pass along the answers that I get on this blog. If you also have questions regarding Donna's reward fund Mr. Waller's phone number is 770-358-5159. He will be glad to answer your questions.

I answered this comment yesterday but it ended in an ugly acronym, so it was not published. (Good decision by the moderator) So I will clean this one up. Your focus, your opinion, your business, belongs solely to you. Every other person has that same privilege. So you focus on anything at anytime anywhere you please. BUT please, Anonymous Darling, Sugar Dumpling, don't tell US where to focus.

Sheila Tolley, Your a piece of s**t. All this time you were on here wanting justice for Donna. (which most of us want the same) Yet you belittle Ms. Morgan's "disappearance" with a comment like that. How dare you say "YES. It is just all about Donna." What about Helen Anne Morgan's family... Don't you think they deserve justice too? With that comment of yours, it appears you only care about YOUR personal slice of justice and to hell with everyone else. Justice is for EVERYONE !!! Not just for you and your snotty ego.
Lived here all my life, don't know you and don't care to either!

Is Ann Morgan dead? It is all about Donna to me. I do not really care what you think g.t. How many official people have you written or called to seek a search for Ann? NONE...I guarantee you. You are one of those people who does not vote but bitches about the outcome. Who have you written? Who have you called? How much have you rounded up for her reward? I may be a piece of s**t to you....but I am fertilizer for the Justice for Donna Campaign. Now, do something constructive instead of seeking ways to get dirty words past the moderator. Make a call, write a letter, write a petition, get signatures, design some Ann t-shirts, go to the bank and establish a reward fund, put out fliers for Ann. And above all...VOTE against Milam if you ever expect Ann's case to receive any attention, if she is dead and you do find the body. Good Luck. I also do not care about Jon Benet Ramsey...you should bitch about that too.

I actually have done some research. Went back and went through all HG's that were published in 1984. Have also found a killer that uses the same M.O. This convicted killer was in Clayton Co. around this time. Arrest records prove it. The similarities are chilling. I presume he has a background in siding/roofing, since he worked for a company that sold it. (when he was older) Admits to "not being caught since he was 14".
I'm still trying to get information that may tie him to Lamar Co. Also the sketch of the person of interest looks incredibly like him. Sounds far fetched, but there are just too many similarities to ignore. Maybe he had help down here? I've forwarded what little info I had, never got a response. (hellooooo Walter??)

Damn, Dick Tracey...with all your investigative knowledge it seems like you could drive to Barnesville, call the sheriff from Barnesville or Pike offices, write a letter, send your info on the line provided at gbi.gov, call the Pike or Barnesville paper office, send your secretary, use a homing pigeon, send smoke signals, ............I think you are a crock of feces. But just in case, a very thin possibility, a total improbability, that you have a real fact, JUST FOR YOU:

If you do not make that call, you should be so ashamed of yourself. To give hope to loved ones who have been hurting for 26 years, to give relief to a person who may be considered as suspect, falsely. To make Walter look as if he would ignore such an informing call, after he has done SO much. If you call and it solves the crime, I hope you get the balance of any reward money. If you do not call, I hope you suffer as this family has in some form or fashion.

I do not understand Not Shelia Tolley. Why should that info piss anyone off? Is our book deal still on? Where have you been? You were supposed to call as soon as you finished rehab? Are you no longer dependable?

Then the family and loved ones should be writing letters, raising hell, calling officials, calling the GBI Missing Persons' Division???? Do something! If a person is in the middle of the ocean with nothing but a row boat and oars and cannot see land in any direction...they should row. It relieves stress.

The next space shuttle is taking Anonymous people to the moon. Please get your ticket. Just think how large that GBI missing persons list will be then. Anonymous, spineless people gone. OOPS! I must run now, I need to send an apology and sympathy card to the Man in the Moon.

Get over yourself! I believe Sheila is on the right track about that. Rumors are not always rumors, sometimes they are facts that one person simply passed on to someone else. These things can lead us in the right direction.

Sheila Tolley,
I did send it to the HG since I don't care much for the local law enforcement. Figured Walter had good contacts and knew who to forward it to. Although Walter needed to be reminded and understandably so because he " seen so much stuff on this case it starts to run together."
Which to me is a good thing. It hopefully means he is receiving a lot of tips. The person I mentioned was ruled out as a suspect, but that will not deter me from forwarding any information in the future. (Just with a little more discretion) Hopefully somebody WILL send Walter the information needed to end this ordeal.

seams to me every one is worried about the reward money what is with you guys''''the reward money.sounds like some one is really gready bring justic home for donna and for ann morgan and any one that needs it.

I just hope Barnesville and surrounding towns will support the vigil in Donna's name on Sunday. She certainly will be looking down and appreciating the support and the fact that there are people who still care that her murderer is still free, and all of us in the family will and do appreciate your support...and hopefully justice will prevail. From me to her killer (and we all know without a doubt who you are) --- if justice is never done here on earth due to the ignorance of man... there is a higher being who will prevail and send you away from the pearly gates...straight to the fires of hell and you will meet the evil you succeeded in emulating!

So should I address you as g, g.t. or anonymous. You are writing as all three. I hope you are right. Walter seems to be doing more than everyone else combined. I am very thankful for his concern and efforts.

Anonymous, I promise you I did not get it. I have actually been checking, as you have got my interest. Please try once more. Maintenance was done on my computer, perhaps that deleted your message. I do not know. Please try once more. I will be on constant watch. smtolley@comcast.net...use subject newspaper

For thousands of years people prefer to know to whom they are communicating with. The only thing anonymous accomplishes is an opinion offered by a coward or either from someone who can't figure out how to type in their identity. I guess “anonymous” gives the individual a certain amount of boldness that they just can’t seem to muster up with a real identity.
Suggestion Walter: Substitute the automatic wording entry of “anonymous” to “no-balls” or “too scared to identify”. The identity can still remain hidden but at least the character will be properly portrayed.

GM, sometimes people have legitimate reasons for not wanting there identity known. Usually, those people don't post childish remarks but instead post comments that have substance. Ignorance is one of the things I dislike most but I've seen many anonymous posts that were NOT ignorant nor would I think that they were posted by someone who was. Here's a suggestion for you GM, opposed to sitting on the computer posting stupid remarks, go to the GM website and find out if YOU are the model that recently got recalled! It's possible, as you obviously have a malfunction.